Sony shifts more consoles than Nintendo thanks to PS4 success

Sony has had more good news on the console front, with the revelation that for the first time in nearly a decade, the company has beat out Nintendo in terms of overall numbers of consoles shifted.

The news won't come as much of a surprise to anyone who follow the games industry, though, given the PlayStation 4's major success since launch, and the Wii U's relatively poor performance.

The numbers came courtesy of Nikkei, which reported that in the last financial year, Sony flogged 18.7 million video game systems in total, compared to Nintendo's 16.3 million units. It's the first time since fiscal 2005 that Sony has managed to outdo Nintendo.

Naturally, the PS4's success had a lot to do with this – Sony's new console has shown a clean pair of heels to its Xbox One rival, shifting 7 million units in just five months, in comparison to 4.2 million units for the Microsoft system as we previously reported.

In total, Microsoft shifted 11.6 million units, but interestingly the firm actually saw an increase of sales of 16 per cent, whereas both Sony and Nintendo saw an overall slip of 20 per cent and 31 per cent respectively in their overall sales.

Nintendo has suffered from poor sales for both the Wii U and the handheld 3DS, and Sony's PS Vita has also suffered from a lack of demand. Handhelds in particular are being chewed up by the increase in the popularity of smartphone and tablet gaming.

While Sony might take a little time to celebrate this victory over Nintendo, it's unlikely that there'll be any champagne corks popping given that the big picture at the company is currently a gloomy affair indeed.